Red meat gets tick of approval for young women

Men should cut back on red meat, while young women should eat more of it, according to new national dietary guidelines.

The guidelines, produced by the National Health and Medical Research Council, are similar to the last version, released a decade ago.

But the council says since the last guidelines were released, the evidence has strengthened on the health benefits of breastfeeding, fruit and non-starchy vegetables, wholegrain cereals and milk, and on the link between sugar-sweetened drinks and weight gain.

The council says 60 per cent of Australian adults and 25 per cent of children are overweight or obese, and if trends continue, by 2025, 83 per cent of men and 75 per cent of women over the age of 20 will be overweight or obese.

The council says Australians are not eating enough vegetables, legumes and fruit, fish, seafood, poultry, eggs, nuts and seeds. According to the guidelines Australians should eat more wholegrain foods, such as wholegrain breakfast cereals and wholemeal bread, but reduce our intake of refined cereal foods, such as white bread.

It says we should consume more reduced fat milk, yoghurt and cheese, and lower our intake of high and medium fat dairy products.

It says we are eating too many ''energy-dense and/or nutrient-poor foods and drinks'', which are high in saturated fat, added sugars and added salt such as fried foods, cakes and biscuits, chocolate, lollies and chips.

The council says we should replace high fat foods that contain mainly saturated fats such as butter and cream with foods containing predominantly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats such as oils, nut butters and avocado, and limit our intake of salt and alcohol.

To revise the guidelines, the council modelled about 100 dietary patterns and looked at more than 55,000 pieces of peer-reviewed scientific research.